1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper feed apparatus for feeding a paper, and an image formation apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image formation apparatuses, such as copying machines, printers, and the like, are widely used. In recent years, for these image formation apparatuses, various contrivances have been made in order to give a configuration which renders them conveniently usable.
For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication (JP-A) No. 2001-225973 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-322117, a paper feed apparatus which covers a range from a feed roller pair in the downstream part of a paper pick-up/feeding apparatus to a registration roller pair in the upstream part of a transfer apparatus is provided. This paper feed apparatus includes a pick-up unit with which a member constituting the paper feeding path ranging over both roller pairs, and a registration roller pair are unitized into a paper feed base, and further paper feed means for manual paper feed is unitized into the paper feed base; and this pick-up unit is removably assembled to unit drawing-out means for drawing out the pick-up unit toward the outside of an apparatus main body, and whereby assembling it to the apparatus main body is rendered easy, and jam removal as well as maintenance operation can be performed with ease.
However, the image formation apparatuses as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-225973 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-322117 have a configuration in which the feed rollers and the registration rollers are provided in separate units, thus there has been a problem that the positional accuracy is easily degraded, and leading edge skew adjustment may not be satisfactorily performed.